[ Jordan Neely was choked to death on a New York City subway car.
Mentor and fellow Michael Jackson enthusiast Moses Harper recalls who
he was in life.]
[[link removed]]

MY FRIEND JORDAN NEELY WAS HOMELESS AND IN MENTAL DISTRESS. BUT HE
WAS NOT EXPENDABLE.  
[[link removed]]


 

Moses Harper, as told to Nicole Lewis
May 28, 2023
The Marshall Project
[[link removed]]


*
[[link removed].]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ Jordan Neely was choked to death on a New York City subway car.
Mentor and fellow Michael Jackson enthusiast Moses Harper recalls who
he was in life. _

Painting of Jordan Neely with his friend Moses Harper, Carson
McNamara for The Marshall Project

 

_On May 1, Daniel Penny, a White former Marine, choked Jordan Neely, a
Black homeless man in mental distress, to death on a New York City
subway car. Witnesses — including a freelance journalist who
captured video
[[link removed]] of
the fatal chokehold — said that Neely did not touch anyone, but was
yelling
[[link removed]] that
he was tired, hungry, unafraid of returning to jail, and ready to die.
Penny, 24, claimed he was protecting himself and other passengers
[[link removed]]__. During
the minutes-long chokehold, two other men held down Neely’s arms.
Within days, the city’s medical examiner ruled the death a homicide
[[link removed]]__._

_Neely’s killing — and the nearly two weeks it took for police to
arrest Penny for manslaughter
[[link removed]] —
sparked condemnation
[[link removed]] and protests
[[link removed]] from
residents, activists and some Democratic politicians from New York
[[link removed]]__.
Some called the killing a case of racist vigilantism
[[link removed]] and
an example of New York City’s systemic failure to protect people
with mental illness and without homes
[[link removed]]__.
Citing Neely’s history of violence
[[link removed]] and
drug use, r__ight-wing commentators and politicians declared Penny a
hero
[[link removed]]__._

_But there is another way to remember Jordan Neely. Before the
30-year-old became a symbol of urban crisis, he was a street performer
who specialized in impersonating Michael Jackson. Here, his
friend Moses Harper [[link removed]] reflects on
their first meeting, his painful life, and how he used dance to quiet
his demons._

I first met Jordan in 2009, after Michael Jackson died. He was in
Times Square performing with a couple of his friends, and I was coming
out of a dance studio where I’d been teaching the “Thriller”
dance moves. Jordan, who was 16 at the time, was surrounded by
tourists, engaging with all different types of people.

Then he picked me out of the crowd.

“Come here, let’s do this! Don’t be scared,” he said,
gesturing to me.

“No, I am watching. This is great,” I responded.

He walked over to me. “Let’s show these people,” he said.

Now, Jordan didn’t know that I am a Michael Jackson tribute artist
and had performed at the Apollo Theater
[[link removed]] and Madison Square
Garden. He didn’t know anything about me. But when I asked him for
the hat he was wearing, I could see him slowly realize that he’d
walked into a landmine. When he saw me dancing, he was astounded.

From that day on, he just wanted to develop his craft. “Whatever you
want to learn,” I said, “I will teach you.”

Over the years, Jordan and I would meet up at different Michael
Jackson events around the city. He would confide in me, and I would
confide in him. I learned that he had faced a lot of trauma in his
life. He was just 14 when his mother was murdered by her
[[link removed]] boyfriend,
and her body was placed in a suitcase. That kind of hurt is
indescribable.

I don’t know about all of the ways that Jordan was trying to escape
his pain, but perhaps the biggest one was performing. When he was
Michael, moving his body, he could forget about his life. He was
beautiful to watch. He had a gift, and I really appreciated watching
him make it safe for a crowd to engage and dance.

Being an artist, being a creator is how I decompress, too. I am a
survivor of childhood physical and emotional abuse. And even though I
have been through all these horrible things, I knew there had to be
something else for my life.

That’s why whenever I met up with Jordan, I’d also encourage him
to get his business in order. He didn’t have a high school diploma.
I’d tell him that he needed to get an education. It is hard enough
growing up as a Black man in the city. But with no education, and
everything he had faced, he was particularly vulnerable.

I know how hard that path can be. For years, I have done outreach with
vulnerable populations — homeless people, LGBTQ youth and young men
charged with violent felonies at Rikers Island. I’ve also visited
food pantries and homeless shelters.

In every borough, in every shelter I’ve been to, the feedback is the
same: People don’t feel safe or cared for. They don’t feel seen.
Because these are the unwanted — the homeless, the untouchables —
no one will check to make sure that the people responsible for
providing them resources are doing their jobs.

The most difficult experience I had was working in Rikers Island for
several years. Inside, you are surrounded by trauma — people in
cages yelling and fighting, aromas of bodily waste. It was hard to
hear men cry in conversation because no one had ever spoken to them
like they mattered.

And some of the young homeless men I met at Rikers told me about the
advice they’d gotten from elders: When the weather gets cold, if you
can’t get into a shelter or get a meal, commit a public disturbance
or a low-level crime. Why? Because of various disorderly conduct and
curfew laws, you can’t sleep on a park bench at night or on the
train, even when it’s cold outside. But if you can get locked up,
you can get a bed and a warm meal. If you express suicidal ideations,
they’ll take you to a hospital, and you’ll have a place to stay.
There are supposed to be resources in place so that people don’t
have to resort to these desperate means. But the system is so broken.

When I would lose track of Jordan, it was scary. Our community of
people who loved Michael Jackson would look for him online, scouring
social media posts until he popped up.

“Did you hear from him?” we’d text each other.

“Yeah, I saw him. He’s good.”

One time I caught Jordan in the subway. It broke my heart to see how
ashamed he was of his situation. He wouldn’t accept help from the
people who loved him. There is too much pressure put on Black men to
hold a certain type of posture and profile. For Jordan, I’d imagine
he felt like, _The last time you saw me, I was dressed up like the
greatest entertainer in the world. Look at me now._

The last time I saw Jordan, he tried to walk past me, but I wouldn’t
let him. I gave him a big hug. “No, you are coming with me,” I
said. I bought him food and gave him money.

“When you are ready to get clean and clean up, I got you,” I told
him.

“Don’t worry, I am going to do it,” he replied.

But the system failed Jordan.

He was traumatized. He didn’t have a diploma. He had to face the
stress of being out on the street and being treated like he was
invisible. On top of all of that, when he performed, he would get
antagonized by people who hated Michael Jackson. They would call him a
child molester. One of the things I tried to instill in Jordan is that
you can’t react. But it’s hard to do that. You’re not supposed
to defend yourself when some stranger who doesn’t know your heart or
your struggles is trying to antagonize you?

When the news of his killing broke, I was in a school in the Bronx. I
got the message from a friend in the M.J. community who lives in
Florida.

“I want you to see this,” she texted. “Moses, I think you need
to look at this.”

It took a matter of minutes for Daniel Penny to become Jordan’s
arresting officer, judge, clerk, D.A., jury and executioner.

But I don’t care what my friend’s arrest record was. I don’t
care if he was homeless. He wasn’t hurting anyone, and if you
support Penny’s actions, you don’t support due process.

Daniel Penny probably figured that no one would even come looking for
this homeless guy. That no one would care. But when I think of Jordan
Neely, I think of a gifted, kind, young soul who was trying to find
some joy and peace in this world. He was looking for a reason to
celebrate and engage in something positive. And it is painful to think
that somebody treated him like he wasn’t worth anything.

He was priceless.

_Moses Harper is a Black lesbian author, artist, musician, playwright,
celebrating the African American experience. She is also a Michael
Jackson tribute artist._

_Nicole Lewis
[[link removed]]  is the
engagement editor for The Marshall Project, leading the
organization’s strategic efforts to deepen reporting that reaches
communities most affected by the criminal legal system._

* Jordan Neely
[[link removed]]
* Street Performer
[[link removed]]
* homelessness
[[link removed]]
* mental health
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed].]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]

Manage subscription
[[link removed]]

Visit xxxxxx.org
[[link removed]]

Twitter [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]